NFL 2011 Off-Season thread

[Crippler]

Yeah but only for a day, they signed him to a five-year deal today.

 

[PHX]

Guessing there was some reason they did it like that since they could have just gave him that deal without releasing him.

 

[LaBrandon Aldridge]

They didn't want to pay him an $8 million roster bonus.

 

[PHX]

Ahh okay makes perfect sense then damn, lol.

 

[PHX]

Damn Antonio Pierce just shitted on Tiki coming back to the NFL on NFL Live today : expecting Tiki to go play with his brother.

 

[Killswitch]

I think all the teams either already know, or need to realize...that this may be one of the worst years for Draft QBs in a long time. Not to say none of them will pan out. You just don't see any guys that you want to jerk off to.

 

[Ben]

I think Newton has potential he's just got to be willing to put the work in otherwise he's going to be Jamarcus Russel 2.0

 

[Killswitch]

Newton goes top 5 now with the rookie pay scale...

 

[Ben]

Players’ union decertifies as talks break down



WASHINGTON (AP)—NFL labor talks broke down just hours before the latest contract extension expired Friday. The union decertified, and players including Tom Brady(notes) and Peyton Manning(notes) sued the league, putting the country’s most popular sport on a path to its first work stoppage since 1987.
Despite 16 days of negotiations with a federal mediator—and previous months of stop-and-start bargaining—the sides could not agree on a new deal. The league said it hadn’t decided whether to lock out the players, who, meanwhile, went to court to request an injunction to block such a move.
“The parties have not achieved an overall agreement, nor have they been able to resolve the strongly held competing positions that separated them on core issues,” mediator George Cohen said. “No useful purpose would be served by requesting the parties to continue the mediation process at this time.”





<noscript><img width=1 height=1 alt=&quot;&quot; src=&quot;http://us.bc.yahoo.com/b?P=K5.1IEwNdHEFOriMTXf.BQCuQR4uZU16ya4ACUtD&T=1dffuhnsc%2fX%3d1299892654%2fE%3d95858717%2fR%3dsports%2fK%3d5%2fV%3d2.1%2fW%3dH%2fY%3dYAHOO%2fF%3d1575835725%2fH%3dY2FjaGVoaW50PSJzcG9ydHMiIGNvbnRlbnQ9ImxlYWd1ZT1uZmw7IHJlZnVybF9zcG9ydHNfeWFob29fY29tIiByZWZ1cmw9InJlZnVybF9zcG9ydHNfeWFob29fY29tIiBzZXJ2ZUlkPSJLNS4xSUV3TmRIRUZPcmlNVFhmLkJRQ3VRUjR1WlUxNnlhNEFDVXREIiBzaXRlSWQ9IjQ0NTc1NTEiIHRTdG1wPSIxMjk5ODkyNjU0Njg1NjIwIiB0b3BpY3M9InJlZnVybF9zcG9ydHNfeWFob29fY29tIiA-%2fQ%3d-1%2fS%3d1%2fJ%3dD6750D4C&U=13e1nds1i%2fN%3dJaaaLkwNPPY-%2fC%3d787833.14445129.14291895.1323516%2fD%3dSKY%2fB%3d6261246%2fV%3d</noscript>By dissolving and announcing it no longer represents the players in collective bargaining, the NFL Players Association cleared the way for class-action lawsuits against the NFL, which opted out of the CBA in 2008.
The CBA originally was due to expire last week, then was extended twice, in hopes that the sides could find common ground on the key issues: how to divide more than $9 billion in annual revenues, and how much financial information the league would be willing to turn over.
It all set the stage for a lengthy court fight that eventually could threaten the 2011 season. The last work stoppage came when the players struck 24 years ago, leading to games with replacement players.
The NFLPA also decertified in 1989. Antitrust lawsuits by players led to a new CBA in 1993 that included free agency, and the union formed again that year.
“We met with the owners until about 4 o’clock today,” union head DeMaurice Smith said outside the mediator’s office. “We discussed a proposal they had presented. At this time, significant differences continue to remain. We informed the owners that … if there was going to be a request for an extension, that we asked for 10 years of audited financial information to accompany that extension.”
About 15 minutes later, the union decertified.
“No one is happy where we are now,” NFL lead negotiator Jeff Pash said. “I think we know where the commitment was. It was a commitment to litigate all along.”
A league statement added: “The union left a very good deal on the table.”
It said the offer included splitting the difference in the dispute over how much money owners should be given off the top of the league’s revenues. Under the expiring CBA, the owners immediately got about $1 billion before dividing the remainder with the players; the owners originally were asking to roughly double that by getting an additional $1 billion up front.
Also in the NFL’s offer, according to the league:
— Maintaining the 16 regular-season games and four preseason games for at least two years, with any changes negotiable.
— Instituting a rookie wage scale through which money saved would be paid to veterans and retired players.
— Creating new year-round health and safety rules.
— Establishing a fund for retired players, with $82 million contributed by the owners over the next two years.
— Financial disclosure of audited league and club profitability information that is not even shared with the NFL clubs. That was proposed by the NFL this week, and rejected by the union, which began insisting in May 2009 for a complete look at the books of all 32 clubs.
The players’ union immediately shut down its websites, NFLPA.org and NFLPlayers.com. A search for NFLPA.org yielded this message: “Error 404: Football Not Found. Please be patient as we work on resolving this. We are sorry for the inconvenience.”
When Commissioner Roger Goodell, Pash, and owners Jerry Jones of the Cowboys, Jerry Richardson of the Panthers and John Mara of the Giants emerged from Cohen’s office shortly after 5 p.m., they sounded hopeful that negotiations would soon resume.
“We are prepared to come back here any time the union is ready to come back here,” Pash said.

Knew this was coming, already 3 class action lawsuits filed by Manning, Brady, and Brees, as a result of the league trying to lock out the players. Still have faith that they will get something done, but it doesn't look good right now.

 

[PHX]

This is just crazy I know it's probably more complicated than the common person can realize or something but this is stupid not being able to come to agreement to split money as the alternate is no one getting anything.

 

[SAL]

Of course common sense says that both sides should want the money to keep pouring in. But neither side wants to take a worse deal than they can get. There's plenty of greed here on both sides of course, but I'd be shocked if this eliminated a season. There's going to be a hearing on April 6 to determine whether the union can decertify, and whoever wins that will have the leverage for the 11th hour deal that I'm sure will get done.

 

[Kairi]

anyone watching the draft tonight?

 

[SAL]

Yep!

But before we get to that, I'm honestly stunned that the judge ruling on the case ordered the lockout to end. For one, the Union's "decertification" was bogus, and they continued to act like a union even after formally breaking up. I think the judge got caught up in the situation from the fans' perspective and made the ruling the fans support but isn't necessarily supported by the facts. I was also surprised that she didn't stay the ruling pending the 8th Circuit's hearing on appeal, since it would be counterproductive to start and then have to stop everything again.

The big winners here obviously are the players, not just because of the ruling itself but because now the fans are taking their side. The players are the ones showing up at team facilities trying to work out and getting turned away. The owners are the ones looking like the villains. And I'm not saying they are the villains, I'd split the blame evenly, but the players have been unfairly vilified by a large segment of the fanbase when all they're trying to do is get a fair deal, same as the owners. Yes, the players make a ton of money, but only because they're the key part of a product we pour billions of dollars into as fans.

Well, that rant's over.

Two picks for the Pats tonight! I love Belichick's shrewdness with his picks, and it's paid off. Two picks in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd rounds. This is a deep draft, not very top heavy but a lot of impact players available, and I would like to see Belichick cash these picks in and get players to help right now. Brady's only got a few good years left, let's get another title push going.

 

[PHX]

I'll have to check to see what the draft is looking like for the Ravens as far as what picks they got. Just hope they get some db's. That is pretty much their biggest need.

I predict that if Cam Newton doesn't go number 1 overall he drops out the top 10.

 

[Kairi]

he's been taking up all my commercial time that bitch better go #1

but if he doesn't can u imagine the camera zooming in to see the shock on his face? lol